Lapisworks Book

I have found a seemingly obscure branch of Hex Casting, "Lapisworks". All of their texts are blank, but some outsider texts about the branch say they are encrypted with a "deep blue, precious mineral".

Objective

TODO: Acquire a "deep blue, precious mineral" and (presumably) bring it near the "encrypted" pages to decipher them and reveal their text.

Eureka! Lapis Lazuli

I held the deep blue mineral known as "Lapis Lazuli" near the pages of the book and the mineral was sucked into them. I tried to get it off but had to be rough, and when I looked at the pages to check their condition, they had text on them! It seems I neeed to rub Lapis Lazuli on them to see their text. Let's see..

The branch of Lapisworks is all about harnessing the enchantment powers of Lapis Lazuli and enhancing one's own body with it. To do this media is struck into Lapis Lazuli, forming a loosely-held-by-media material known as Amethyst Lazuli, or Amel for short. The media breaches the mineral's surface and cuts the Lapis Lazuli into many extremely small chunks then connects them like a glue. Continued..

This allows any outside media to suck out all the enchantment energy of the Lapis Lazuli by interacting with the Amel's media layer. While I have found many patterns (documented just beside this entry), some pages of the texts remain blank and not even rubbing with Lapis Lazuli or Amel can decipher them. I suppose I will find out soon enough (or even never as the deciphering could be lost to time) and must be content with what I have now.

Lapisworks Patterns

Imbue Lapis

Transform all the Lapis Lazuli in my offhand into a loosely-held material called Amethyst Lazuli or Amel for short. Costs twice the number of Amethyst Shards as Lapis Lazuli in my offhand.

Mold Amel

While I could shape Amel into whatever I want, I have decided on three primary shapes which are familiar to me. I can use this pattern to mold the Amel in my offhand for free.

It is worth noting here that the next patterns can enchant my body, but the enchantments disappear upon death.

Enchant Skin (entity, num →)

Pass in an entity and a number of half-hearts, and it enchants that entity's skin thus increasing their health. The amount of expended Amel is the number given and the cost in media is twice the expended Amel. Continued..

The limit to this is twice the entity's maximum healthiness and it will not expend any Amel or media above that limit (no wastefulness). Curiously, the enchanted skin also protects against Nature taking it's due, making it impossible for Nature to take a piece of the entity's mind. Interestingly enough, old texts suggest that beyond a certain level of power mages would lose sanity, and this is how certain powerful mages were able to keep their sanity. In any case my maximum healthiness is about twenty half-hearts.

Enchant Fists (entity, num →)

Pass in an entity and a number of half-hearts, and it enchants that entity's fists thus increasing their physical damage upon hit. Expends one Amel and five Amethyst Shards per half-heart. Limit is four times the norm or just four for me.

Enchant Feet (entity, num →)

Enchants the given entity's feet to increase their movement speed. Costs 1x Amel and 5x Amethyst Shards. Limit is 3x the norm. The norm for me is about 1.

Enchant Arms (entity, num →)

Enchants the given player's arms, increasing their attack speed. Costs 1x Amel and 16x Amethyst Shards. Limit is 4 PLUS the norm.

Enhancement Prfn. (entity, num →)

Gives you the amount the given entity has been enhanced in the given area (specified by number). The patterns before were sorted so 0 gives max health, 1 gives attack damage and so on. Negligible media cost.

ENCHANTMENTS

I HAVE SEEN I HAVE SEEN I NEED IT I NEED MY SANITY BACK ENCHANT SKIN CAN I ENCHANT MIND PLEASE MUST NOT LOSE SELF TAKE FIVE MINTUE BREAK NO HAVE NO TIME MUST DOCUMENT BEFORE

THE EMPTY PAGES. WINKS OF MEDIA IN THE CORNERS MY EYES GATHERED TOGETHER. I CAN SEE I CAN SEE I CAN READ MUST WRITE DOWN. ALL OF THESE PATTERNS COST 64 AMEL FROM MY OFFHAND IF NOT STATED, AND THE ENCHANTMENTS DO NOT CARRY OVER BAD DREAMS IN WHICH I DIE.

Enchantment Prfn. (entity, num → num)

GIVEN AN ENTITY AND AN ENCHANTMENT ID, GIVES THE LEVEL OF THE ENCHANTMENT ON THE ENTITY FOR NEGLIGIBLE COST. NO AMEL REQUIRED. DOES NOT REQUIRE AN ENLIGHTENED MIND.

Grant FireyFists (entity →)

ENCHANT AN ENTITY'S FISTS WITH FIRE, AND IT WILL HENCEFORTH LIGHT ANY ENTITIES IT HITS ON FIRE FOR THREE SECONDS. CONSUMES 10 CHARGED AMETHYST. HAS 1 LEVEL. ID = 0.

Grant Lightningbending (entity →)

ENCHANT AN ENTITY'S FISTS WITH LIGHTNING. CONSUMES 20 CHARGED AMETHYST PER LEVEL. 3 LEVELS, EACH IMPROVING THE USER'S ABILITY TO CHANNEL LIGHTNING. ID = 1.

LEVEL ONE: EACH STRIKE CHANNELS THE LIGHTNING IN A THUNDERSTORM TO THE STRUCK VICTIM.

LEVEL TWO: STRIKES HIT WITH LIGHTNING UNDER RAIN AS WELL.

LEVEL THREE: SO GREAT EACH STRIKE IS EMPOWERED WITH LIGHTNING, NO MATTER THE WEATHER CONDITIONS.

Envelop Feet in Amel (entity →)

ENVELOP FEET WITH AMEL THAT SPROUTS OUT TO BREAK ANY FALL 10 BLOCKS (PER LEVEL) OR BELOW. NO DAMAGE REDUCTION. TWO LEVELS. 5 CHARGED AMETHYST AND 32 AMEL PER LEVEL. ID = 2.

Grant Amel Air Sacs (entity →)

GIVES ME MORE LUNG CAPACITY, SIMILAR TO THE RESPIRATION ENCHANTMENT BUT TWICE AS STRONG. TWO LEVELS. 1 CHARGED AMETHYST AND 10 AMEL PER LEVEL. ID = 3.

Make Fire-born (entity →)

WIELD THE ENERGY OF AN ENTIRE STACK OF AMEL AND TEN PIECES OF CHARGED AMETHYST TO MAKE ONE HELL-BORN! ID = 4.

Enchanted Patterns

These ancient texts recount an old and wise wizard, extremely knowledgeable of all sorcery, yet spiteful of all creatures living, dead, undead or unborn. It is told he was poor in sources of media and many came after him, but he always managed to survive. This wizard left behind a treasure trove of knowledge on his demise (collected by curious adventurers) including Enchanted Patterns.Will I ever be capable of this feat?

Frustratingly enough, the wizard attempted to burn most of them and was extremely successful, leaving only a few that were recovered by the heroes that defeated him. Among these few are enhanced forms of Conjure Block, some Vector patterns, Archer's Distillation, among some others.

Conjure Solid Color (vec, num →)

Pass in a vector within Ambit and a dye color, to conjure a fragile but solid, colored block. This costs two amethyst dust and the number states which dye I want to dye the colored block. More explanation on the next page.

The number states the index (starting from 0) of the dye I wish to use if they were all sorted alphabetically. All mappings:
0 - Black 1 - Blue
2 - Brown 3 - Cyan
4 - Gray 5 - Green
6 - Light Blue 7 - Light Gray
8 - Lime 9 - Magenta
10 - Orange 11 - Pink
12 - Purple 13 - Red
14 - White 15 - Yellow
Additionally the block glows with the dye of my pigment's color and purple if no such dye exists.

Spherical Gambit ([pattern], vec, num →)

Evaluates (exactly like Thoth's Gambit) the given pattern list over a sphere with the given radius (non-decimal, at least 1, at most 64) around the given position.

Cubic Gambit ([pattern], vec, num, bool →)

Evaluates (exactly like Thoth's Gambit) the given pattern list over a (hollow if given True) cube-ish area from the given points A to B.

Visible Distillation (vec, num → bool)

Negligible cost. Answers the question, "is there nothing there or between this place and there?". Both vectors must be in my ambit. Requires a player to cast it.

The next four patterns pertain to reading and writing or checking exclusively my main hand and no other hand. This is also a good time to note that Enchanted Patterns aren't always "better" than the original.

Secretary's Reflection (→ any)

Main hand version of Scribe's Reflection. Pushes the Iota stored in the Iota holder in my main hand to the stack.

Reviewer's Reflection (→ bool)

Main hand version of Auditor's Reflection. Pushes whether the item in my main hand can be read from or not.

Amanuensis' Gambit (any →)

Main hand version of Scribe's Gambit. Writes the given Iota to the Iota holder in my main hand.

Sanctioner's Reflection (→ bool)

Main hand version of Assessor's Reflection. Pusher whether the item in my main hand can be written to or not.

Lapisworks Mishaps

With a new branch of Hex Casting comes new mishaps. I've documented them here.

Not Enough Items

I have the correct item in my offhand, but not enough of it. Brown particles. Upends my held items and throws them to the ground.

Already at Maximum Level

Perhaps real enchantments like those on my tools was what those empty pages were about? Anyway. This means the entity is already enchanted at the maximum level of this enchantment. Differing particles for each enchantment, and no punishment.

Incorrect Item (Main-hand)

This is for when I have an incorrect item in my MAIN-hand, usually caused by attempting to Imbue Amethyst Lazuli into a tool that can't be enchanted by Amethyst Lazuli. Drops my held items to the ground and causes brown particles to appear.

Despite Lapisworks being primarily focused on the enhancement of the body, some people have found ways to use it to enhance tools as well. Apparently some of the materials of this world have differing interactions with media. Let's see..

Imbue Amel

Imbue with Amel (num →)

Imbue the item in my main-hand with the amount of Amel specified from my off-hand. Not wasteful like the Imbue Lapis spell. The ancient "Lapisworkers" would use this spell to imbue their tools with Amel. Costs twice the amount of Amel I wish to infuse, in shards.

Casting Rings

One of the main limitations that has kept me from making a ring to cast with is that the ring would be much too small and perhaps even inefficient. However now that I'm reviewing these texts I can see workarounds that at least limit the ring's negative effects. Some materials apparently have special interactions with media. Two examples of such materials are documented on the next page.

Diamond is a good "conductor" of media that focuses it (due to its "chemical structure" (what is that?)) while Gold is somewhat of an insulator. The "Lapisworkers" of old took these materials and combined them to make many a great constructs, but all of those (due to ease of reaction or due to wanting to hide it in war, mayhaps) have been lost to time. However I can easily create my own.

Casting Ring

Click to show recipes Click to hide recipes

Gold-Diamond Casting Ring

Diamond around the Amethyst to focus the media, and Gold to make sure it only flows into the Diamond. While it is still not as good as an actual staff, it is definitely more ideal than a simple ring with Amethyst. Moreover the Amethyst slightly hinders any staves I try to use by attracting some media to itself. I can press key.keys.lapisworks.use_casting_ring to open the casting grid when it is equipped.

If I am dissatisfied with this ring, I can choose to imbue it with one piece of Amel. The Amel should stick to the Gold part. It'll start focusing and attracting media from my reserves to moderate speed that can either be picked up by a staff in my hand or eventually swing back towards the ring.

Gold is moldable too, so I can also use Mold Amel if I dislike the new appearance.

Imbuing Staves

The Amel Ring was created from Amel infusion into the stave-like Casting Ring better. Therefore it stands to reason that actual staves would stand to gain from Amel infusion. These staves (due to being larger) would need more Amel but would create a more precise staff. What of incomplete infusion, however?

Incomplete Staves

My own renditions of possible incomplete staves.

Staves that did not have the amount of Amel required to fully transform have Amel deeply rooted in their structure but not enough to stand against the power draw of the Amel for very long. The product is inefficient, leaky (and thus not very long-lasting) but also more precise (bigger hex grid) than full infusion.

The fully infused staff is less precise than the incomplete ones (has a smaller hex grid boost) but actually lasts. I suppose there is some merit, then, to having an incomplete staff and constantly feeding it low amounts of Amel so it does not decay. It takes about 10 Amel to make this.

Imbuing Swords

The Casting Rings started my brain walking. The staves got it running. Now I can't stop, it's simply too enjoyable to re-invent the weapons of the past. This time I got curious about what kinds of swords could be made, so I designed some and documented them here. Each takes 32 Amel to make (with no incomplete version) and can be repaired with Amel when above 90% durability.

Infusing Amel into a diamond gives it the ability to sacrifice its durability to shoot out extremely quick and focused jets of media that deal as much damage as the sword itself, when I squeeze the handle. This has a range of 10 blocks. I should infuse the Amel through the top, to sharpen it.

Iron's interaction with Amethyst Lazuli Infusion seems to be that the Amethyst Lazuli reinforces it to twice as much durability, allowing it to be feasibly used as a shield. Additionally attempting to block with it momentarily charges up the Amel like with the Amel-Infused Diamond Sword for a quarter of a second, and if hit at that point the Amel lashes out. I guess I could call this ability "parrying".

The Amel lashes out towards the other person and absorbs some pieces gaining 20 "points" of durability. It also hits the enemy with half the power of the sword (launching them away from me as well). If their tool breaks, it steals every piece, gaining 100 "points" instead of just 20. Additonally the enemy feels their tool was hit so hard they have to make sure it's not completely broken for a second or two, almost always.

The Amel has enough energy that it can even withstand an axe hit and go straight for its handle, making the enemy tool take 100 "points" of damage instead of just 20. However if I fail to parry the axe My tool takes 20 "points" of damage and I get flung away. Additionally the Amel on my sword is rendered useless for a second due to suffering so much damage while unprepared for it.

Gold is a media insulator, so I can't quite infuse Amel into a sword made of it. Still, Amel is a natural toxin to most living beings so I can pour over it and attempt to infuse it so it doesn't slide right off. Hitting entities with this makes the Amel lash out and go into them (destroying a relatively major piece of the sword as well), poisoning them for about ten seconds. Quite a nice glass cannon if I say so myself.

Some intellectuals and/or adventurers saved the old wizard's diaries. I've begun to divine some of the wizard's knowledge from these ancient tomes.

The Ancient Wizard

I have found rumour of an old, knowledgeable wizard that has done much evil and staved off the hordes of vigilantism, yet always had low media reserves. While he attempted to burn most of his scriptures near his demise, I've read tale of adventurers and intellectuals that had managed to save some of them from the grand fire.

Based off of this information I predict they may have buried the knowledge away or put it in the strongholds I've read of, such as pyramids in the desert, brick structures underground, etcetera.

Enchanted Sentinel

Whilst being hunted by a particularly strong group of 30-40 people consisting of professional hitmen or assassins, bounty hunters, and other mages looking to vanquish him, the mage had escaped into a castle. He needed a way to be able to deal with all of them from a huge distance or from a few floors up. Greater Sentinel's range was much too small, they would be aware it was a small trap. So out of desperation, he looked to his Amel to "enchant" the pattern.